Hello May!

These are the homemade window clings we made last week.  We hope they will help keep birds from flying into the glass and hurting themselves, or worse.

On Tuesday, we said goodbye to the month of April by returning to one of our favorite outings, bowling.   We also enjoyed the last of our April birthdays with a celebration for Devin!  It wasn't long after bowling began that Patrick, Sam, and Bo were cheering for the first of many strikes the Birthday Boy made today!  And later, it would end up being Dev with today's high score of 145!



We found our favorite pizza chef, Tracy, and put in our lunch order.  She makes the best pizzas!

We use lots of balls so Kevin and Cameron have to make sure they pick up the right ones!

 Kacie was excited to make TWO strikes in a row!  Yay, Kacie!

We forgot to get a picture of our pizza lunch, but we want to thank Devin's family for treating us today!  We love our pizza lunch!  

Finally, it was time for cake.  We gathered around Devin and sang the birthday song!

We hope all your wishes come true, Devin!!  Many thanks to your family for the cake AND ice cream, too!  What a special treat and a great celebration!

Devin's Dad put some pictures of Devin through the years on a board so his friends could look at how he's changed in his 23 years!  How cool!

After bowling, we had to return to AFCC because we were welcoming visitors from the United Way.  We were so busy introducing ourselves and showing them around that we forgot to take pictures.  But it was nice to share all the good news about the Arc of Abilities with new friends!

By now, everyone knows how much we enjoy learning about and working with plants.  So we were pleased on Wednesday morning when Kacie's mom, Stacey, sent us these potted African violets which now grace our other windowsill!  These are all offshoots of Stacey's African violets at her home!  Thank you, Stacey!  We are going to have a lesson about these later this week so we can learn how to care for them.  We can't wait for them to bloom!

Wednesday was May 1st, so we had to prepare our calendar.  Look at us working together to create colorful calendar squares for 19 days of engaging activities we'll have in May!  

We are getting the preparation of our monthly calendar down to a nearly flawless routine.  The associates work in small groups researching pictures to insert for each date that reflect what we are doing on that date.  They are also learning how to use the printer.  Kacie inserted the USB cable (we're not wireless yet!) while Sam made sure she had the correct slot.  Our guys can almost create the calendar all by themselves!!

Ta-da!  We present the month of May at the AoA!

According to our favorite source for all things we should have fun "celebrating" or learning about, aka, the National Day Calendar, May 1st is School Principals' Day.  That meant we got to make these posters for our favorite principals at JRES.

This delegation caught up with Assistant Principal, Ms. Vallone, and Principal, Mr. Stutt, after lunch and presented the posters to them.  The letters we wrote to each of them were funny, but sincere, and they really appreciated us thinking about them!  We are grateful for the support of both of them, and all of the staff, at JRES.  We feel like a part of their family, for sure!

🌞Wednesday means yoga, and Patti came with an important message about pacing and hydration today!  Since our Spring has suddenly turned into Summer, she pointed out that it takes a bit of time for our bodies to acclimate to the higher temperatures and humidity.  She explained that we need to ease ourselves into what should be more active lifestyles (especially outdoors) and make sure we are drinking plenty of water.  That's good advice for everyone! 🚰

We find "heart center" and listen as Patti talks us into our next movement.

We try to reach our arms high and stretch gently to each side to "lengthen" our core for improved posture, balance, and breathing.  Thanks, Patti, for teaching us better ways to care for ourselves.  You give us great tips every week!

After yoga we worked in small groups.  Xavier, Annmarie, and Kevin were proud of the work they did matching pictures to baseball terms.

We enjoyed a delayed "celebration" of May Day one day late on Thursday.  We learned that May Day in ancient times was a celebration of longer daylight hours and the start of summer.  We also learned about the traditions (fading away in the 21st century) of dancing around a May Pole, and filling baskets with flowers or treats to give friends and neighbors.  Our baskets were made with paper plates and filled with popcorn, and we had fun giving them to each other!  Happy May, everyone!

For lunch, we were preparing breakfast casserole and fresh fruit salad.  We divided the gang into teams with 2-4 on each and got to work.  Alexis, Patrick, and Annmarie were on Team Eggs/Cheese/Hash Browns.

Since we feed about 20 now, we have to make two casseroles, so Chloe and Kacie were also on Team Eggs/Cheese/Hash Browns.  These two teams had to measure and mix cheese, frozen hashbrown potatoes, and one dozen eggs, along with milk and some salt and pepper.  

Kate, Xavier, Bo, and Abraham manned the Sausage Teams, browning and crumbling the sausage in our new (this year) electric skillets.  They made the room smell good!

Nan worked with the Fresh Fruit Salad Team of Laura, Kevin, and Dev.  They had to wash and cut grapes, strawberries, and blueberries.  They also mixed up a tasty glaze with honey, lime zest, and lime juice, which made the salad extra delicious!  Shout out to Liz, seen in the window reflection.  She took most of our team shots today!

Liz put down the camera and hooked up with Sam to form Team Birthday Cake!  We are celebrating Coach Teri's day tomorrow at Eaton, so we had to make the cake today.  Liz and Sam set up this station all by themselves, and when they finished with the cake mix, they cleaned it all up, too!  

We have worked on our cooking skills since the beginning of the AoA program over 3 years ago, to include food/equipment safety and hygiene skills, too.  We're proud to show how far our guys have come.  Today, stations were set up to get various parts of the lunch meal prepared, and they took the lead from start to finish.  Staff were on hand for supervision and "advice," but for the most part, our associates did it all!  

The Fresh Fruit Salad Team was working down in the lunchroom area and didn't make it into our video, but we definitely want to highlight their work.  LOOK at this beautiful salad they made!  It tasted even better than it looks!

Lunch was yummy! 

We checked our worm bin and noticed that the worms are squirmming all over the place.  We also saw that quite a bit of the food we put in last week has been eaten.

We have been saving veggie and fruit scraps, so we fed them today.  Then we covered them back up and we'll let them be.  After a couple of months of this routine, we should be able to harvest some compost!

Mother Goose Day was this week, and who would have guessed that our guys would enjoy a mini-lesson on nursery rhymes?!  Well, they did!  We learned that Mother Goose is an imaginary author, there was no real one.  There are over 700 of the familiar rhymes which have been around for centuries, and are the work of many unknown authors.  We also learned that singing the rhymes helps young children with their language development.  Mother Goose is fascinating!  All of the friends in this picture came up to read some of the rhymes aloud!  Fun times!

We ended Thursday with a lesson about African violets so we can take good care of the ones Kacie's mom gave us yesterday.  Now we know that they are native to eastern Africa, come in many colors, are a popular plant to be given on Mother's Day, need lots of sunlight, but not direct sun, and should be watered from the bottom.  Since they aren't blooming yet, we colored pictures and made predictions about what colors we think they will be!  We'll post a picture when we have blooms!

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This is how Lisa felt when she realized the camera was left behind (first time ever) on Friday and she didn't have any pictures for the blog!  We had a great work day at Eaton and an even GREATER time celebrating Coach Teri's birthday with tacos (her treat!) for the 4th year in a row!  Please check back on Tuesday for a special edition blog post dedicated to our very Fun "Tres de Mayo" Friday!

Meanwhile, here's what we'll be doing next week:

Tuesday:  We're heading to the Mariners' Museum today for our lesson on the Titanic with Wisteria.  We'll also catch the Sea Rex movie we missed last time when the theater was undergoing maintenance.  (We saved everyone's $5, so no money needed.)  Weather permitting, we'll picnic on the patio again, so please bring a bag lunch and wear your Arc shirt.

Wednesday:  It's Teacher Appreciation Day, and the associates are going to "celebrate" Lisa, Carol, Nan, and Becky by making cards and pies!  Our Rotary volunteer couldn't make it last week, but he will join us in the lab today.  We'll have yoga with Patti, too. Dress to stretch and lunch on your own (pie for dessert).

Thursday:  Today is Lost Sock Memorial Day...which sounds like something we would enjoy celebrating so we will enjoy sock games and a fun craft.  We're also going to break into cooking teams to prepare a chicken casserole and fresh garden salad for lunch.  After lunch, we'll have a fun afternoon playing Bocce with Coach Teri!

Friday: The main thing we will do today is think about Mother's Day, which is on May 12th.  We'll be busy creating something special for all the moms we love.  National Train Day is on Saturday, so we will work that into our day's activities, too.  Lunch on your own. 

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🏃🏃🏃 Don't forget to mark your calendars for these upcoming events in support of The Arc of Greater Williamsburg!  Please let us know ASAP if you or someone you know is interested in being a sponsor for our 10th Annual Williamsburg Landing 5K for The Arc!  We have a number of sponsorship levels and would be grateful for your support in making this the most successful 5K ever! 🏃🏃🏃

🏌🏌🏌 We'd also be most appreciative if you signed up for the Women of the Moose Golf Tournament to be held at Kingsmill on August 3rd!  If you're not a golfer, there are lots of other ways to support this important fundraiser coordinated by our dear friend, "Moose" Patti.  We sent an email message earlier this week, so check it out! 🏌🏌🏌

TODAY- May 4th - If you haven't missed it, head over to High Street and the Revolution Grill for a British Car Show with partial proceeds benefitting The Arc of GW!

May 27 - Zumbathon Fundraiser 

10-11:30 at Ironbound Gym, New Town 

May 31 - Jamestown Jams Concert Series begins

6:30-8:30 at Jamestown Beach Event Park

June 22 - Rotary Concert Series at the Kimball

August 3 - Women of the Moose Golf Tournament Fundraiser at Kingsmill

October 5 - 10th Annual Williamsburg Landing 5K for The Arc

Also, remember:  Week of July 2-5 - AoA will be closed for summer break! 

Enjoy the weekend,

Lisa, Carol, and Nan